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Categories: Grocery, Specialty Food [Edit]
Neighborhood: Lower East SideDelancey-Essex Sts (F, J, M, Z)
Grand St (B, D)
2nd Ave-Houston St (F, V)
Mon. 9:00 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
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When I can't get to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, this is where I shop.
It's in my neighborhood and for the most part, everything I've ever
purchased here has been fresh and good quality. Fruits, veggies, meats, fish and packaged goods too. Jeffrey's Meat stand and some of the fish areas are excellent. Recently discovered Roni Sue's homemade chocolates which are a wonderfully rich in texture and flavor. I'm also psyched that there is a Porto Rico Importing Co booth for coffee and teas, albeit small, but who cares, it's here. I don't have to take my tired butt to St. Mark's if I don't want to. This morning I tried a cup of their seasonal pumpkin spice blend and it was aromatic and perfectly balanced.
There is gourmet cheese booth, fresh variety of breads and so much more!
BETTER AND CHEAPER THAN WHOLE FOODS and CLOSER TO ME! I do 90 percent of my shopping here at this marketplace. It was discovered by me after passing by getting off the F train on my way home. I was amazed at how many different markets were placed together in one location. I don't really eat meat anymore, but I still eat a lot of fish. I buy a lot of salmon and tuna steaks here. The fish here is so inexpensive I can buy triple the amount compared to what I would pay at Whole Foods for ONE pound. Geez! They also have a ton of organic food and cleaning products at the marketplace in the back. Seventh Generation as well as Meyers brand. I have skated around all over LES to Union Square and compared prices of groceries and this place is by far the least expensive and totally worth it.
Cons: They are only open til 7pm and Closed on SUNDAY - shouldn't they be open on that busy day when most people shop?! Right next to subway so you can smell the air from downstairs.. blehhh
as a former florence resident, this brings back so many memories. i used to live across the street from il mercato centrale in firenze and this reminds me of a smaller version of it. the nostalgia factor alone gets this place 5 stars.
oh, and the rock bottom prices dont hurt
The menu is amazing!! The food was actually very good!! the wait wasn't bad at all, we waited about 10 minutes. The seating is very limited so I would suggest you go non peak times.
They are very straight up, they don't care who you are they will just tell you to your face!! LOVE IT!!!
Heaven. Especially Jeffery's Meat Market and Essex Farms groceries and produce - friendly service and extremely fresh produce, quality meats and poultry and they have a great selection of everyday groceries as well as high end needs.
Something about shopping at markets gets me more excited than going to shop for clothes. I love to come here to pick up some groceries and along the way pick up some sweets to snack on for the train ride home. I love how on the outside it looks like some ordinary building, but inside it is a market filled with pretty good deals. Plus, it is conveniently close to the train station. It's pretty much a one stop place to pick up things to cook up a dinner.
I love the Essex Market! I just wish they were open later than to 7pm, but they technically close down at 6:30pm cause I used to rush here after work and get upset cause the booths shut down early!
They have fruit/produce stands with pretty much everything you need, I cook a lot of asian cuisine, so it's nice that they carry things like ginger, scallions, bok choy, etc.
They also have a great butcher, they carry all the meat I need, and it's so much cheaper than even KEY FOOD.
There's also a cheese place, I haven't really bought anything from here, but my friends get their cheeses from here and say how yummy it is.
There's also a few little random booths like a jewelry stand, craft shop, baked good stand, etc.
I love this place. ENJOY!
If you want to know where to find the good food, ask the locals and in this case you may have to break out your spanish.
First thing you notice when you walk in here is all the locals shopping. This part of the LES has a very hispanic/cuban population(as evident by strolling down clinton street) and a lot of them seem to shop here.
I like this place because its not your traditional grocery store. Lots of produce, meats(poultry, fish, etc), fruit you name it.
It's a little confusing at very because there seems to be a lot of overlap between the different vendors or whatever you want to call them.
Prices are pretty good, get three lbs of chicken breast for just over 6 bucks.
For fish I stick to the outside people on grand street but I will def be checking this place out more often for some of those things that I wanted fresher then path mark but not as costly as whole foods.
PS: some of the vendors only take cash...
I love walking through and exploring markets. I recall that years before I landed in the West Village, I was contemplating taking over a friend's apartment in LES and was thrilled to find Essex Market in the hood.
I've actually never really bought anything here before - except my patronage to Shopsin's. Sometimes it's just knowing it's there is all I need and this is one of those places.
Tiny, smelly, scummy, and nothing of quality can be found here except for Shopsins eatery. For anyone who's ever been to a public market before (especially those who have been to Philly's Reading Terminal Market) you'll surely be disappointed.
Its location next to the Delancey St F stop and that Shopsins is here is the only reason I gave it any stars at all.
I'm sad to read in the other reviews that this type of market isn't all over Manhattan. My stay in the LES is coming to an end, and I anticipated shopping adventures like these in other neighborhoods I will be staying in.
It's a great little market that fulfilled all of my grocery needs while I was here. They have a great selection of veggies, meats, cheeses and healthy pantry staples. And the prices were not bad either.
My only complaint is the hours. In a city that never sleeps, why must they close at 7 and not be open at all on Sunday?
The Swiss Army Knife of indoor markets.
Yes, there's your requisite produce, meat and seafood vendors...But also a barber (!), a Tailor (!), an art gallery (!) and sundry other unexpected businesses.
This venerable market has been around since the days of Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia (the guy the airport was named after).
Oh, it's had its ups and downs -- It was almost closed by the Health Department in the mid-1990s and the vendors had dwindled significantly.
But it cleaned up its act and bounced back. Today, it's a distinctly New York mix of humble vendors selling things like 5 limes for a dollar, or yellow onions for .69 cents/lb side-by-side with gourmet cheese shops and chocolatiers selling chocolate-covered bacon for $38/lb.
I could see where people might visit for the first time and be disappointed that the lights aren't bright enough, the paint not fresh enough, the produce not spiffy enough. Don't be. It's a living, breathing piece of a vital Lower East Side. And, if you dont care about that, it's got lots of good deals, to boot.
Essex street market is a true Latin mercado updated for the 21st century. As other yelpers noted the market was built by LaQuardia in another location as a way to bring the push cart vendors indoors.
Today, the old vendors blend with the new to make Essex Street a true food destination. Dos pesos used to buy alot here though the changes have brought sligtly higher prices. Here is a brief sample.
Fruit- Several vendors selling fruit, veggies some tropical some exotic, most very cheap.
Jeffrey's meat market- carne, some muy pretty, super slab bacon with lots of celeb pics hanging as Jeffrey is a celeb in his own right.
Roni Sue's Chocolate- handmade chocolate- love this spot, the butter pecan crunch and chocolate raspberry are some of my faves. She is moving into a bigger spot in the market as of January.
Saxxelby's cheeses- local fab cheeses and some Sullivan street bakery bread and organic milk.
Formaggio- more cheese and olive oils, some imported hams and gourmet goodies
Shopsins- only open lunch hours- genius food- fresh vibrant- eccentric, indifferent service. Hint: get the Adobe
So after surviving the maddening "Sell, SELL, SEEEELLL?!!?!??" war zone that is NY's Chinatown area, my friend and I needed to grab some groceries for a din din party she was attending this eve. And so we decided to hit Essex since the reviews were high and it sounded like a neat place to tool around in.
Once we arrived, I was kinda surprised at how small it was. Guess we were both imagining something bigger and I pictured something more like Grand Central Market in Downtown LA. Regardless though, they had tons of fresh veggies, meat counters, fishies and a cheese shop, which, let's face it, if you have cheese in your establishment, you are good in my book.
After she gathered her goodies for dinner we headed back into the jungle, but for less than $10 and walking out with 3 bags of stuff, ummm, sign me up!
My initial reaction was surprise- what isn't in here may be the question. Barber? Check. Tailor? They got it. Full supermarket? Yep. These additional items just serve to supplement the already fantastic array of meats, fish, produce- all which looks fresh and great.
It definitely lacked the bustle I would have expected of a place like this at lunch time; however, it could have just been the weather. Either way, I wish Astoria had a one stop hub like this for all of my shopping and so I could do so while keeping all the money local.
I don't get by here all that much but it is a great selection of shops. I think the last time I was there was last Summer when the wife sent me in search of pickling spices. I also remember a very nice cheese shop on premises. Worth a visit if you are in the area.
I was visiting NYC from California this week. This place is awesome, and the prices are pretty decent, I saw fresh salmon for $7.99 a pound. This is the real deal here, almost like going to a neighborhood farmers market, and they have some shops that sell lots of fancy olive oils, vinagarette dressings, etc, you can get all your grocery shopping done in one place and support local merchants to boot rather then corporate America.
And, why not make lunch out of it too? There are a few good places to eat here including Shopsins, and it's right on the subway line!
I've been coming here every Saturday with my mother ever since I could walk. This place is very near and dear to my heart. Very good produce and even better is meat from Jeffery's Meats. Oh man so knowledgeable and friendly. I've never bought fish from here but for everything else it is fantastic.
My part-time life in NYC is made so much more desirable given that my digs here are a mere round-the-corner from Essex St Market.
To make a parallel comparison to SF, this is like Valencia St produce meets a little Sunset and a little BiRite. That is to say: cheap produce, ripe fruits, delis with fresh meat and seafood, and an abundance of both fresh asian AND also latin ingredients/produce. Like stockpiles of it.
PLUS, plus the wonderful cheese shop at the end selling artisanal goods which I like very much.
But Essex is one step better. The gents can get their hair did at the barber shop here. Yes, not just food, kids. But a barber shop too. Keepin' it real in the LES.
CON: closes at 6p and closed on sundays. Boo! But cheaaaappp and apparently the best offerings for fresh latin produce in manhattan (ask Bobby Flay).
Easy to miss and confusing to navagate, this market was established by LaGuardia back in the day to get the pushcart vendors off the streets of the Lower East Side. I know a couple old schoolers who still call the place "the pushcart". Over the years it changed to reflect the neighborhood: Latino vendors took over from those selling kosher products. Very recently a couple gourmet shops have joined the fray, reflecting the upscale turn the 'hood has taken.
This makes the Essex Street Market very exciting - the balance between new and old is just about perfect. You can buy local artesinal cheeses in one stall then pick up some bacalao and yuca in another. European gourmet products are sold ten paces from Mexican sodas and corn tortillas. The greengrocers are excellent. Jeffrey's butcher shop (which also doubles as an art gallery!) is a MUST when visiting here - he's a third generation butcher, a great character and a source for many things that are hard to find (such as dry-aged beef, mergeuez sausage and exotic meats). His prices are remarkably low for the quality of meat he sells.
If you live in the East Village or Lower East Side this is a great place to shop. If you're a foodie passing through the neighborhood it's well worth the detour to check out the Essex Street Market.
I like cooking. I like markets. I like supporting little local businesses. So how come I had never heard of this place? A lovely little covered market in the LES. I found it by chance today on the way to Sugar Sweet Sunshine and it's so damn cool. Lots of little, individual shops, each with their speciality (and yes, there's even a tiny, old style barber shop!). The crepes at the crepe place (by the enterance) looked great and are the most reasonably priced ones I've seen yet. And everywhere, you saw people who take great pride in what they do. It gave this place a wonderful energy.
Why only 4 stars then? Well, you know me and my need for organic produce and hormone free meat... That didn't seem to be available here. Despite that, I really really liked this place and if I it was not so far away from where I live, I'd become a regular; if for no other reason becuase I like shopping at places where people get to know their customers.
Definitely worth a trip (especially if you're a fan of the Union Square Greenmarket).
I lubbers you for Shopsin's and Roni Sue's. Those are the anchor tenants that I heart, along w/ Jeffrey's and the fresh produce/seafood/cheeses. Daisy Martinez buys her ingredients here to make her Sofrito. Anything good enough for Daisy is good enough for me! I'm regretful that I didn't encounter you earlier, as you make my heart go pitter patter. The thought of the Big Baby at Shopsin's. The mouth watering crunch of Pig Candy at Roni Sue's. The bursting of spices in the merguez sausage at Jeffrey's. I must return to you every so often, as you brought sexy back to the LES. Hidden gems like you are great to keep on the downlow, as only those in the know will appreciate what your true awesomeness reveals.
Reminds me of the street markets in Hong Kong, except indoors. It's a wonderful lil' environment that I'm quite fond of. It's mostly groceries and meats, but there's some other seemingly-out-of-place stores including a tailor shop, a repair shop, an art gallery and some sort of record store/flower shop.
There's also a barbershop there. It's just one barber and one seat. I've heard some stories about the guy, most of which are along the lines of "brilliant but crazy". I've never tried it though, I usually don't let crazy people with scissors touch my head.
I love the Lower East Side. (and I am far from being a hipster)
My friend Nancy recommended the market to me, and I went. WOW. It is narrow & crowded. Best to go on a weekday. I love Jeffrey's I bought hangar steak from Jeffrey himself, and he knows his beef.
If I lived on the LES, I'd have done more shopping, but as I only occasionally cat sit there, I kept my purchases to a minimum. There is a large Spanish grocery market, some nice produce, two fish stands, a cheese shop, a fresh pasta shop, a sandwich shop, a barber, a kosher wine shop and more. All in a pretty small space. I love it - a jampacked jewelbox of a city market. Essex Street Market helps to define NYC for me.
I try to support the mom and pop shops in this market as often as possible and hope that others will do the same.
Good produce for cheap. 2 seafood spots, always fresh. GOYA products for days if you cook Latin American.
But the best things are
1) Jeffery the butcher. Genuinely nice guy who loves to talk about and really knows his meat.
2) the sandwich guy across from Jeffery that makes killer gourmet-like sandwiches.
3) Saxelby's Cheese. Always nice and helpful. Very happy people.
Haven't tried Shopsin's yet but I will soon.
I agree with Matthew...this place sucks! I walked in and wanted to buy a muffin and the people were so sarcastic...I walked away.
They looked so annoyed that I was asking any questions.
The whole place looked dirty so I had no interest in buying any of the vegetables or fruits or fish. No one paid attention to me so even if I wanted to buy anything it would have been impossible.
Do not waste your time or effort.
The people that sell produce and seafood are really nice, helpful, and fast. There are a wide range of those items + world-class cheese and meats. Prices are affordable and the food is fresh (unlike WholeFoods where only the latter is true).
I find this place especially good for shopping if you're living alone and/or cooking for yourself because you can buy as little or as much of the produce/seafood/meat as you want, which allows purchases of small portions.
Less important reasons I'm not giving it 5 stars: lacks other basic items you might find at bigger grocery stores such as toilet paper, toiletries, even some brand name crackers, etc. Also, a couple times now, people have cut me in line in the check-out...which is both odd and annoying. I don't know if that happens at others places...
Went to this place on a lark one Friday after reading about it online. Great little indoor market! It reminds me of the kind of places you'll find in old downtowns all over the country. Outside of NYC they're usually the last place where one can get 'market' goods. In NYC not so much, but it's still great.
Love the crepe guy. He's funny and his crepes are wonderful. The little booth selling cheese and chocolates carries some yummy stuff. And the produce here is top-notch. There are several ready-to-eat places inside and a seating area so you can sample some good eats.
I wouldn't make a special trip to come here. I am in this area often enough (for Fried Dumpling) that I'll pop over here as well. If you live or work nearby, definitely make this place a regular stop. If you don't, visit at least once, you may find some surprising culinary treats.
I never actually bought anything here but when I first heard about it on tv I stopped in one day while in the area. It wasn't the willy wonka factory of produce and fine seafood that I had imagined but it nonetheless had stuff that looked fresh and the prices seemed fair for the most part. If you live in the area and you'd rather not deal with the going from street cart to street cart or do not fancy the nastiness that is your local Gristedes, you may fair well. However, there are also plenty of good markets close by in the Chinatown area.
3.5 stars. It's a tiny space that's cramped with stalls of produces and dried goods. Then around a small corner, you'll encounter a cheese specialty shop, a bakery, and of course, the infamous Shopin's (which was closed for the holiday - messaged on a handwritten piece of white paper). The vendors are friendly and the items are fresh. But price and variety-wise, still can't be compared to Chinatown, which is a 10 minute walk away. So, I got some spices (which I can't find in Chinatown) and walked to C.T. to finish my grocery shopping spree. It's still a fun place to shop and support the local merchants.
I am a sucker for any place that can be described as a "market", and I am so happy that this is so close to where I work. I teach fun health lessons (through Dr. Oz's HealthCorps!) in a high school 2 blocks away, and I come here ALL the time for affordable fruit, veggies etc for my students. I also come here all the time for myself because these prices are so much better than those at Gristedes or Morton Williams and all that crap. I especially like the jam-packed fruit cup for 1.39!
The vendors are mostly very friendly, especially Jeffery of Jeffery's Meats who is a character. The little variety shops also add a quaint touch. I haven't tried the candy store or the kinda out-of-place tailor, but I love checking out the store that makes dirty cakes and the stall that sells the pear and walnut muffins. I got one hot out of the oven once and it was so amazing I ate most of it just standing there. Maybe I'm being a hypocrite because they're not really healthy ... but I swear there is at least as much pear in there as there is muffin!
One star off, however, for some of the dry food goods on the peripheral shelf areas that look like they have been sitting around getting a little dusty...
Going with Kev on this one...great store...for the most part they've got everything you could want, but they can't help you on a Sunday friends.
the prices are a bit steep.
Other than that...great little market
I walked into Essex St Market at random after a good brunch at Essex next door. This place totally reminds me of some of the covered markets my mom used to take me to as a kid in France. You can find everything here from produce to meat and fish to groceries. Everything looks high quality, and the prices do not seem excessive. They also have a cheese shop, an electronics store (very old school), and more unusual or surprising shops such as a taylor ("Mr Smith Expert Taylor, From London Picadilly" says the sign), and a small shop selling religious iconography ("Santa Lucia Religious", "No Pictures Please!")... The place somewhat reminds me of Pike Place Market in Seattle, on a slightly smaller scale, but also with more of an old-time feel. Don't miss it if you are in the area.
I came here today for the first time. This is a really nice option in the neighborhood and I think anyone who lives around here is very lucky. I found a lot of produce at excellent prices. The meat and fish vendors had fresh, enticing offerings, and those prices were good as well. The offerings overall tended to lean toward the Latin American, with many kinds of peppers, aloe vera leaves, taro, yucca and jicama side by side with things I could not identify. I bought some lime-shaped little berries I haven't seen before, but the woman who was behind the counter was unable to tell me what they were called or what they tasted like due to our mutual inability to speak the other's language. I don't care. Two bucks for a new food experience is a good thing. There are takeway stalls, Schapiro's Wine is here with wines to taste, there are non-food vendors and a barbershop the size of a toaster oven.
The BEST thing about Essex St Market is that Shopsin's has opened up a little lunch counter at the main entrance. I had some huevos rancheros and look forward to coming back for some of the more traditional Shopsin's favorites.
The worst is the layout. It's very confusing and I walked around for ten minutes trying to find a place to pay for the ripe avocados I found. Some vendors have two stalls across aisles--it's also very busy and full of workers loading and unloading pallets and crates of stuff onto shelves and into bins as you walk by--the aisles are narrow.
Overall, I don't know if I would come here again for no other reason, but since I got a lunch at Shopsin's out of it, and it's around fourteen other places I always mean to get to, it was a 2-stop subway ride well worth it.
UPDATE: The lime things are QUENEPAS!
I used to live right around the corner -- I LOVE this place. The produce is some of the best you can find in the area if not for miles, and the prices are dirt cheap. The guy who makes dirty cakes is unbelievably sweet, and his muffins are delicious, again, and super cheap. Two strikes: there's often a really weird, difficult-to-place smell permeating the whole market. And, the hours are pretty bad for your average 9-7-er. They're open on Saturday, fortunately but not Sunday. Anyway, this place is a gem and I hope it stays open, which I question given the rapid overdevelopment of the neighborhood.
All the fun of a latin american covered market, minus the smells and the fly-covered dead animals dangling sadly on the way to being put in your dinner. Given that there are several fancy cheese shops and gourmet bites, it's really like a Mexican food market and the Embarcardeo Farmer's Market in San Francisco had a gorgeous little biracial baby. in addition to the quirky barber shop, there's also, apparently, an art gallery. At least a gaggle of hipsters seemed to be attending an art opening there when I last went.
As just a NYC visitor, we were quite impressed with this little neighborhood market. The produce prices seemed quite low ($1.00 for a large bunch of herbs) and several fresh seafood stands and a butcher with a variety of meats. Had a really nice farmers' market feel to the place.
Fun. Crowds way less snarky and bombastic than those back home in SF. Icelandic(-style) yogurt at Saxelby's. I'd definitely be spending a lot of money on the gigantic Florida avocados and cactus if I lived in the neighborhood.
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